Press Release from the Siyanda Abahlali baseMjondolo BranchHand written on Friday 30 JanuaryDigitised late due to no electricity in Kennedy Road on Tuesday 3 February

The judge has adjourned this matter to the 6th of March 2009. We, the remaining residents of the Siyanda shacks, welcome the outcome of today’s hearing.

Everybody, rich or poor, has a life to live.
The Department of Transport has continued to reject our request for a negotiated solution. They have continued to argue that our refusal to accept that the houses promised to us should be corrupted to other people is costing them hundreds of thousands of rand a day. They have continued to argue that our refusal to move to their government shacks, what the people call the amatins, (the Richmond Farm transit camp) is costing them hundreds of thousands of Rands a day. They have continued to say that the demolition of our homes and our forced removal to their government shacks is an urgent priority and that there can be no further delays.

We continue to say that everybody, rich or poor, has a life to live.

We continue to demand that we should be given the houses promised to us. We continue to say that if the Department of Transport continues to fail to give us what they have promised us then we should be allowed to remain in our homes. We only agreed to their demand to demolish our homes because they promised to replace our shacks with houses.

Promises made must be promises kept.

Transit camps are big tin cans and human beings are not fishes. No person should be put in the undignified accommodation of the transit camps.

Everybody, rich or poor, has a life to live.

We have been lied to and we have been robbed. We have been to meetings and been disrespected, we have marched and been beaten. Now we are going to the High Court. We strongly believe that, unlike Bheki Cele, Nandi Mandela or the police, the judge will recognise our humanity.

We thank our lawyers again. In this system the poor cannot approach the courts without the solidarity of lawyers who work for God. In this system we always eventually run into tear gas and rubber bullets when we try to insist on our dignity outside of the court. The police are waiting at the end of every path. But everybody, rich or poor, has a life to live. Therefore we have to change this system so that everyone, rich and poor, has the same access to the courts. But, in the meantime, we thank our lawyers again.